Early Alpine occupation backdates westward human migration in Late Glacial Europe

Abstract

Highlights d Genetic replacement in Southern European hunter-gatherers started at least 17 ka ago d The shift follows the LGM and precedes the onset of the Bølling/Allerød event d This process is chronologically associated with major cultural transitions in Europe

Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study

“…The most notable evidence of such a gene flow is represented by the so-called Villabruna replacement, which is represented by the arrival of genetic components with a higher affinity to contemporary Near Eastern groups and which formed the basis for the post-Ice Age European genetic landscape (Fu et al 2016). The earliest evidence of such a massive replacement is represented by the Tagliente2 sample from Riparo Tagliente (near Verona, Northern Italy) dated to 17kya and for which a whole-genome shotgun sequence is available (Bortolini et al 2021). Although based on mtDNA evidence alone, earlier traces of Villabruna-like genome may be seen in some Paglicci samples dated to 19kya, at the very end of LGM (Posth et al 2016).…”

“…The emerging scenario hence seems to place Italy as the first step of the re-colonization of post-Ice Age Europe by settlers coming from the East potentially as early as 19 or 20kya. This population movement introduced in Southern Europe, through demic diffusion, the Epigravettian cultural package (Bortolini et al 2021) and may have initiated other cultural transitions given the presence of a similar genetic component found in the genome of the individual ElMiron, who lived ~ 18.5kya in Spain and that was associated to Magdalenian culture (Fu et al 2016). A similar, parallel movement from the Balkan/Black Sea region towards the North, with genetic contributions from Central/ East Eurasia, may explain the origin of Eastern Hunter Gatherers (EHG), who indeed seem to align along an orthogonal axis from the one described by the WHG (Fig.…”

Through 40.000 Years of Human Presence in Southern Europe: The Italian Case Study

“…The most notable evidence of such a gene flow is represented by the so-called Villabruna replacement, which is represented by the arrival of genetic components with a higher affinity to contemporary Near Eastern groups and which formed the basis for the post-Ice Age European genetic landscape [18]. The earliest evidence of such a massive replacement is represented by the Tagliente2 sample from Riparo Tagliente (Verona, Northern Italy) dated to 17kya (16,,510 cal BP) and for which a whole-genome shotgun sequence is available [20]. Although based on mtDNA evidence alone, earlier traces of Villabruna-like genome may be seen in some Paglicci samples dated to 19kya, at the very end of LGM [21].…”

“…The emerging scenario hence seems to place Italy as the first step of the re-colonization of post-Ice Age Europe by settlers coming from the East potentially as early as 19 or 20kya. This population movement introduced in Southern Europe, through demic diffusion, the Epigravettian cultural package [20] and may have initiated other cultural transition given the presence of a similar genetic component found in the genome of the individual ElMiron, who lived ~18.5kya in Spain and that was associated to Magdalenian culture [18]. A similar, parallel movement from the Balkan/Black Sea region towards the North, with genetic contributions from Central/East Eurasia, may explain the origin of Eastern Hunter Gatherers (EHG), who indeed seem to align along an orthogonal axis from the one described by the WHG (Figure 2B), although this is beyond the scope of the current review.…”

“…Specifically, we downloaded the 1240K+HO dataset from Dr David Reich laboratory, which comprises present-day and ancient DNA data (version V42.4; https://reich.hms.harvard.edu/allen-ancient-dna-resource-aadr-downloadable-genotypespresent-day-and-ancient-dna-data [2,7,18,23,27,28,33,[35][36][37][38]40,50,51,). In addition, we added: (i) Bronze Age Southern Levant DNA data [105]; (ii) ancient DNA data from the Balearic Islands, Sicily, and Sardinia [12]; (iii) ancient samples from Sardinia spanning the Middle Neolithic to present days [11]; (iv) the Italian Chalcolithic and Bronze Age samples [31]; (v) the genotypes of an Italian hunter-gatherer from the Late Epigravettian site of Riparo Tagliente dated around 17,000 years ago [20].…”